South Korea mounted a comeback to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico on June 11, 2026. But the story coming out of the stadium wasn’t the scoreline. It was the rows of empty seats clearly visible throughout the match.
Official attendance clocked in at 44,985, just a hair under the venue’s roughly 45,664 capacity. On paper, that looks like a near-sellout. In practice, the eye test told a very different story.
The gap between sold and shown up
Visual reports and social media commentary pointed to significant swaths of empty seats, concentrated most noticeably in the premium hospitality sections. Those are the seats that cost north of $5,000 per ticket.
This was only the second match of the entire 2026 FIFA World Cup, following the tournament opener in Mexico City.
